(a) Field
The invention relates a sealing inspection device and a sealing inspection method. More particularly, the invention relates to a sealing inspection device and a sealing inspection method for inspecting a sealed state of a sealed area of a substrate formed by coupling a top plate and a bottom plate to each other by a sealing member.
(b) Description of the Related Art
As an information-oriented society has developed, the demand for various types of display devices has also increased. Accordingly, various kinds of display devices such as a liquid crystal display (“LCD”, a plasma display panel (“PDP”) and an organic light emitting diode (“OLED”) display have been researched and actively employed as display devices for a variety of equipment.
The OLED display among these kinds of display devices has a structure in which elements such as an organic layer including an emission layer is interposed between a pair of electrodes, e.g., first and second electrodes.
When moisture and/or oxygen are introduced into elements of the OLED display, the elements have various problems in that life span of the elements is reduced due to oxidation or exfoliation of an electrode material therein, light efficiency is deteriorated, and a light emitted color is deteriorated.
Therefore, encapsulation is typically performed to isolate the elements of the OLED display from the outside and prevent moisture from permeating thereto, in a manufacturing process of the OLED display.
To that end, the general OLED display generally includes a display substrate including an organic layer, and an encapsulation substrate disposed opposite to the display substrate and coupled to a sealing member (e.g., a sealant) to perform encapsulation of elements of the OLED display.
In a manufacturing process of the OLED display, the sealing member is coated on a sealed area of the OLED display and then cured such as by laser irradiation. In a curing operation or while a sealed state OLED display is transported, errors or defects are generated in the sealed state OLED display. Therefore, there remains a need for an improved manufacturing or inspection process for an OLED display which evaluates sealing effectiveness in a sealed state of the OLED display.